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Friday, 28 September 2018

A Thank You to the Original Fashionista

My mother died 7 years ago this week. Today would have been her birthday. So I am revisiting this post for the first time since the original was posted. (Yes, this blog has been going a long time!)

(That's me on the right, after a modeling job, still wearing the last dress from the show. Mom is on the left, her sister Marg in between us. Circa 1986.)

My mother was the original fashionista.From the day I was born, she dressed me like
a princess in petite designer knock-offs.So it’s no mystery why my latest mystery A PURSE TO DIE FOR (co-written
with Cynthia St-Pierre) has a fashion theme to it.

I remember happy Saturdays with Mom traveling the subway to
Eaton’s in Toronto, from the time I was five.I would gaze at the super stylish manikins in the picture windows at
Eaton’s and Simpson’s (both long gone) with pure delight.It was the 60s and fashions were ‘mod’.Colour sizzled. Makeup was bold.And

Mom was a gorgeous diva who turned heads
everywhere.

Many years later, I took my own trips down the runway in
Vancouver and Toronto, as an occasional fashion model for Marilyn Brooks and
others.And trip is the right word!Sometimes those high heels were a little too
stiletto.

Now, my own daughter Alex rules the runway, and has taken
over as the family fashion Diva.Why?

One of the tragedies of my life is that my mother died mere
months before A PURSE TO DIE FOR was published.It was my gift to her – a fun and heartfelt thank you for the brightness
she created in my life.Mom was the sun
around which this family spun.Her love
of beauty in art and clothes reflected the beauty of her soul.

The heroine in A PURSE TO DIE FOR has the same fashion
addiction, and the same big heart.What
Gina recognizes – and what my Italian mother so effortlessly portrayed – is that
fashion is just downright fun, and we should take joy from it.

So to my dear Mom who walked the Rainbow Runway just months
before A PURSE TO DIE FOR came out – this book is for you.Miss you every day. Ciao Bella.